I rolled my eyes. “You were totally a lapdog in another life.”
He laughed and patted the spot next to him.
I hesitated for a second, then joined him. “You’re right,” I said after stretching out on my back. “Nothing is more epic than this.”
The sky was breathtakingly bright tonight, the stars above dazzling—shimmering without the cover of clouds. “That’s Polaris,” Nick said after a moment, pointing to a single diamond-shaped star. “Also known as ‘true north.’ And if you look over there, you can see Andromeda.”
His finger traced out the constellation.
I smiled in the darkness. Nick considered himself an astronomer of sorts, reading books and obsessed with some stargazing app on his phone. “And that’s Perseus,” I said, also reaching up to connect some stars. I’d downloaded the same app. “Right?”
Nick didn’t answer. Instead, he just said, “I can’t stop thinking about it.”
My heart hitched.
“That night,” he went on. “At the beach…”
“That night…” I echoed, grabbing for the hair tie on my wrist and stretching it out. “At the beach…” It sounded like I had no clue what he was talking about.
But I did, eyes fluttering shut for a second. To see it again, to be there again: Martha’s Vineyard, back in July. The beach, the bonfire, the s’mores and “borrowed” beer. “Come on, let’s play spin the bottle!” someone had shouted.
So I’d spun. I remembered spinning first, the empty Bud Light bottle slowing to a stop halfway between the twins. “Get ready, groom.” I’d flashed Charlie a grin, at the same time one of his friends said, “No, no, Sage, it’s totally leaning toward Nick…”
Totally leaning toward Nick.
I’d felt him smiling at me from across the fire, but even with its heat, I froze. Kiss Nick? KissNickCarmichael? Half of me couldn’t fathom it; we were friends. Just friends.Alwaysjust friends.
But then my ice broke, that first crack rippling through me.
Because somehow the other halfcouldimagine it—kissing him.
Just once, I’d told myself.Just once, to see what it’s like.
Now, I snapped my hair tie back against my wrist and sat up. Nick did too, and it was so quiet that I heard him swallow before he gave my ponytail a teasing tug. “What do you think?” he asked.
“Nick…” I began, but didn’t get to finish, Nick suddenly taking my face in his hands and kissing me. And just like that, it felt like back at the bonfire. Nervous and clumsy at first, but then deep and drowning—all-consuming. Afterward, I felt so light-headed that I swore I would float up, up, and away, so I took one of his hands to anchor myself.
Nick grinned. “You taste like Junior Mints.”
I grinned back. “And you taste like a Milky Way.”
“Not a great combination,” he replied, a dimple popping in his left cheek. I loved that dimple.
So I leaned in again.
“Wow,” he sighed a few minutes later. “This time…”
“A bottle.” I sucked in a breath, snapping back to reality. Here, now, Bexley. My spine straightened. “This time there isn’t a bottle.”
Nick chuckled. “Well, does there need to be?”
My heart twisted, knowing what he meant.Everything will change, I thought.If we do this, everythingwill change…
“I mean, would you want to?” he asked. “Because I think we could be really good.” He squeezed my hand. “You know, good together. I’ve always thought so, but I’ve never had the nerve to say it…”
I stayed quiet, unsure how to respond. Nicholas Carmichael was a romantic and a traditionalist; he was imagining a girlfriend to love and adore, to hold hands with while walking to class, to take to prom. The idea made me think of my parents—that had been them, years and years ago. High school sweethearts, married straight out of college but divorced by the time I hit middle school. “Too young,” my mom said now. “We loved each other, Sage, but we were too young to really know what we wanted. You shouldn’t get serious with someone until you’ve lived your own life first.”
Nick kissed my knuckles. “Sage?”
